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The Heats beat the Bobcats 124-107. But what stole the thunder of the Heats’ victory was LeBron James, who scored a career high of 61-points, breaking the old franchise record of 56 points. James was on fire when he converted 22 of his 33 attempts on the field, sinking eight three-pointers.
“The man above has given me some unbelievable abilities to play the game of basketball,” James said. “I just try to take advantage of it every night. I got the trust of my teammates and my coaching staff to go in there and let it go.”
His previous career best of 56 points came when he was playing for Cleveland against the Toronto Raptors back in 2005. Glen Rice held the Heats’ record of 56 points in 1995 before James annihilated it with an outstanding performance.
“There was an efficiency to what he was doing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The rim looked like an ocean for him.”
Spoelstra confessed in a post-game interview that he had planned to take James out after the third quarter. He’ll be thanking his stars he didn’t. “He was in a great groove, obviously,” Spoelstra said.
Al Jefferson had 38 points and 19 rebounds for the Bobcats, his huge night merely an afterthought. This was all about LeBron.
“You take away his 61 points,” Jefferson said, “and we still had a fighting chance there at the end.”
There was a flood of tweets soon after the fiery show at the AA Arena.
He scored the record breaker with 5:46 left on the clock by spinning through three defenders and converting the basket as he tumbled to the court.
“I felt pretty good in the first half, but halftime can always kind of derail things and slow things up,” James said. “But I was able to get things going once again in the third quarter and I knew it could be one of those nights.”
It turned out to be a night like no other for Lebron James.
“Once he sniffed 60, we knew he was going for it,” Heat forward Shane Battier said. “And the amazing part is the efficiency. Good Lord. Sixty-one on 33 shots, that’s Wilt Chamberlain-esque. That’s pretty amazing. Incredible performance.”
James checked out at 1:24 left and was met by a standing ovation from the 20,000 fans who were chanting “M-V-P” at the American Airlines Arena and the entire Heat roster met him near midcourt for high-fives and hugs.
Even the Bobcats couldn’t help but admire James’ performance, especially after he scored a pull up three-pointer from about 30 feet.
“If he’s going to shoot the ball like that from that range, there’s nobody that’s going to beat them,” Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said.
James scored 11 in the first quarter, after which Miami led by three, and added 13 more in the second. His 24-point first half was the highest-scoring opening 24 minutes for the four-time MVP in nearly a year, helping stake the Heat to a 60-54 lead at the break.
Guess the Lakers players!
